Launch: The fourth multiple-launch CubeSat mission from the territory of the former Soviet Union (today Russia and Kazakhstan) took place on April 17, 2006 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on a Dnepr launch vehicle (launch provider: ISC Kosmotras). The launch involved 7 CubeSats as secondary payloads. The CubeSat launch had been arranged by CalPoly and included 3 CubeSat P-PODs (Poly-Picosatellite Orbital Deployer) - which were deployed after the primary payload in the predetermined deployment sequence (see Table 1 and Figure 1). All three P-PODs deployed the CubSats successfully. 1)2)

Figure 1: Illustration of the three P-PODs for the seven CubeSats (image credit: CalPoly)

The lack of published information about the various CubeSats, as well as of the other EO missions, permits only the description of one project, namely MAST.

MAST (Multi-Application Survivable Tether)

MAST is a collaborative CubeSat project of TUI (Tethers Unlimited Inc.) of Lynnwood, WA and SSDL (Space Systems Development Laboratory) of Stanford University, Stanford, CA. The overall objective of the tether demonstration mission is to obtain data on tether performance, survivability, and dynamics. The data is crucial to the development of operational tether systems for propellantless propulsion and deorbit, formation-flying, and momentum-exchange transportation applications. In particular, detailed on-orbit data on the survivability of space tethers and other gossamer spacecraft structures in the micrometeorite/orbital debris (M/OD) environment is of prime importance. 4)5)

The MAST experiment consists of three picosatellites, i.e. a triple CubeSat configuration, stacked into a single P-POD. The MAST experiment deploys three standard CubeSats (1 kg mass, 10 cm cube) along a 1 km "Hoytether" (a tether structure composed of multiple lines with redundant interlinking that is able to withstand many impacts) that incorporates both conducting and nonconducting materials. Each end of the tether will be anchored with a picosatellite. After deployment, the middle CubeSat, referred to as "Gadget", will slowly crawl up and down the tether, inspecting and scanning it for damage due to M/OD impacts and AO (Atomic Oxygen) degradation. The imagery of the tether will be transmitted periodically to a ground station for analysis. In addition, all three picosatellites contain GPS receivers, and data from these receivers will be collected to provide information on the dynamics of tethered formations of spacecraft and the performance of the tether deployment technologies. 6)

The MAST program has been funded through a combination of private and government research funds. The development of the underlying technologies was funded by a NASA Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract, with Stanford University's SSDL collaborating as the non-profit Research Institution.